


You Were Better Than I Was Ready For (I Have to Make Your Whole Body Smile)

by savages



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Getting Back Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Break Up, Post-Canon, Sappy, Theo has some realizations and Liam is there for him, like really fucking sappy, no angst just kinda angsty thoughts, smut if you squint, wow the fact that that wasn't already a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:34:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29013636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savages/pseuds/savages
Summary: “Liam, could you come over?” He finally answered. And oh. Liam was actually going to get to see him, to feel him, breathe him in and bask in his beautiful presence. He had a sweater over his head and was working on getting his jeans and shoes on before he knew it.“Yeah,” He spoke up. “Yeah I can.”orLiam goes over to Theo's one night a few months after their break up, activities not appropriate for two dudes who are supposedly broken up ensue, and Liam helps Theo make some realizations.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 14
Kudos: 83





	You Were Better Than I Was Ready For (I Have to Make Your Whole Body Smile)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. Oh my god I've been slowly writing this fucking story for like a year and a half I finally finished it. As of right now this was kind of a "no proof-reading we die like men" kind of moment but I'll probably go back and proof read it later.
> 
> Title is from Body Smile by DVSN

Although he wasn’t asleep yet, the soft vibrating sound that was coming from somewhere on the couch had still managed to startle him as he had been just shy of unconsciousness. With his eyes still closed, he blindly flailed his hands around his bed, looking for his phone. He finally managed to find it in between two blankets, and he opened his eyes to take a look at who was calling. When he saw the caller ID, he couldn’t help his heart from fluttering slightly. Quickly, before the call ended, he slid his thumb on the screen to answer it. 

“Hi.” He said, voice soft and airy, like he had gotten the wind knocked out of him but he had liked it. Theo just had that effect on him. 

“Hi.” Theo answered back, voice soft, but croaky with sleep. “I’m sorry, I know it’s late.” 

“No, no it’s alright.” Liam said as he sat up right in the bed, getting more comfortable. “I wasn’t even asleep. What’s up?” He hadn’t heard from Theo in a while, not for a couple of months. At least not directly, but he knows that the older chimera sneaks around his campus sometimes, checking up on him. He can smell him when he does, no matter how far away he stays. If he’s close enough to see Liam, then he’s close enough for Liam to breath in even the faintest of his scent. Liam always pretends he doesn’t notice him checking up, though. He knows this is how Theo needs things between them to be for right now.

“Nothing.” It was definitely something. Ever since their breakup, or whatever the hell you would call it since their relationship wasn’t ever defined to begin with, Theo had stuck to mostly just contacting Liam through text. Liam knew something was up. “I just… I just missed your voice, is all.” And  _ fuck, _ if that didn’t make him feel dizzy. He shut his eyes quickly at hearing that, trying to calm his quickly increasing heartbeat. 

“Oh,” He spoke up after only a second, not knowing what else to say. He heard Theo chuckle quietly on the other line. 

“Did you miss mine?”  _ Like you wouldn’t fucking believe,  _ he thought. And Liam resolved to let him know as much.

“Theo,” He started, his emotions already getting the best of him so he had to take a moment to keep his voice from wavering. “I missed  _ all _ of you.” Again, he heard another chuckle from Theo on the other line. 

“Yeah?” He asked, and Liam could hear the smile in his voice. Of course, he thought. Of course that asshole would find some amusement in Liam missing him so much. He always did love a stroke at his ego. But he could feel the pain behind his words, too. Knew Theo was just trying to keep a facade to stay away from any real conversation. Liam had known him too long. 

“Mhm,” he hummed back, shifting in bed to get comfortable again. He played with the string of his sweatpants as he talked into his phone again. “Kept wondering when you would call. Kept wanting to call you myself... I don’t like it when you stay away from me too long.” It was quiet on the other line, but just for a second. Then Theo let out a defeated sounding sigh.

“Yeah, I know.” Liam could tell he was biting his lip on the other line. 

“Hey,” He spoke again. “I don’t even need to use my werewolf powers to realize how not okay you are right now.”

“What, you can’t smell me through the phone?” That took a small chuckle out of him and he gave in to a tired smile. But he knew he was going to have to keep trying.

“Theo,” he said more sternly.

“Liam.”

“I’m serious, why’d you call me?”

“I told you, I missed your voice.” Liam wanted to get angry, he did. Theo couldn’t just keep his distance for months and then call him suddenly but refuse to say anything  _ real  _ to him. The silence on the line showed that they both knew it, too.

“Okay,” Theo spoke up again. “I couldn’t sleep. You’ve always helped me with that.” 

“Yeah, I have.” It was silent on the line again. A charged silence, like the atmosphere around them already knew what was going to happen next.  _ They _ knew what was going to happen next. “Would you like me to help you with that again?” Liam wasn’t sure if they were talking sex-wise or emotion-wise here. Sometimes just the presence of Liam was enough to help Theo close his eyes, even if just for a few hours. Other times Liam had to help Theo tire himself out with some sex. He figured he was okay for some phone sex right now. It was a long while before Theo answered him. Almost like he had to think about it.

“Liam, could you come over?” He finally answered. And  _ oh.  _ Liam was actually going to get to see him, to feel him, breathe him in and bask in his beautiful presence. He had a sweater over his head and was working on getting his jeans and shoes on before he knew it. 

“Yeah,” He spoke up. “Yeah I can.”

-

When Scott, Stiles, Malia and Lydia had first left Beacon Hills for their life after high school, Liam had been scared. He had been terrified. Here he was losing his Alpha and his older friends who he could always count on, and to top it off he knew Scott would be expecting him to keep watch over Beacon Hills while he was away. 

He had Mason, and by extension Corey. And he knew the Sheriff and Melissa would always be available in any way they could. But there were the newly turned werewolves and all the other supernaturals still lurking around town. Plus there was that pesky Chimera who couldn’t seem to take a hint and was still in town, for some unknown reason.

Theo had never left, had stayed there by his side through all of it instead. Somehow the older boy had managed to be there through everything. When stray hunters left over from the fight against Monroe had somehow made their way back to Beacon Hills and had captured Liam one unsuspecting night, it was Theo who had tracked him down through his scent and taken the hunters down. He worked with Liam to scare away anyone who gave the younger pack members a hard time, whether supernatural or human. Just always there.

It was a long while before anything happened between them, though. Liam had long resolved himself to the fact that Theo was a constant in his life from now on. Incident after incident Theo had shown that he would always be there for him. And sure, Theo was still a giant jackass. He was always full of a sarcastic retort, and eyerolls, or a selfish deed every now and then. But there was no longer any venom to any of his actions, just the signs of a wall that he had built between himself and the rest of the world. Liam knew that Theo had put that wall up thinking he was protecting not himself, but those around him. Liam also knew that whenever they were alone, just the two of them, Theo would put that wall down just an inch, just enough for Liam to be able to reach over it a tiny bit. It was during one of these occasions that the feelings they had both been tiptoeing around revealed themselves in all their glory.

After they had graduated high school (well, all of them except Theo who never went back, choosing to take a course at a trade school the town over instead), Liam decided to keep his education going at UC Santa Cruz. He had planned to go there with Mason, who had also gotten in. But then Corey decided that, after everything he had been through the past two years 一 dying, being resurrected with supernatural powers, having to fight an army of murderous hunters, etc 一 he wanted to forgo college and take the opportunity to figure out his life instead, and travel the world. Mason, although heartbroken about going back on his plans with Liam, had decided to go with him instead. And Liam supported them, he couldn’t be mad at two young lovers. But Liam, just wanting to go back to normalcy after everything, went through with his plans and moved onto the campus that fall.

Theo went with him. Of course, he used the excuse that he just wanted to get out of Beacon Hills and that it was just a coincidence that he had found a mechanic job in the town next to his University. But Liam knew. He knew that Theo just couldn’t bear the thought of being away from Liam, and Liam couldn’t bear the thought of being away from Theo. Liam knew, and at that point he also knew that they would have to confront whatever it was between them sooner or later. 

And then they did, sort of. It was just after Liam’s first semester at college. Liam’s parents were away on a second honeymoon of sorts and they wouldn’t be back until Christmas eve day, so he decided to spend the week and a half until then at Theo’s place instead. He had found a small studio apartment that Liam often found himself in. He didn’t know what was so special about that first night he stayed there after his finals, maybe it was just that neither of them could keep going without doing _ something  _ about their feelings. Maybe it was that they both had some liquid courage in them as they had laced some vodka with wolfsbane. Whatever it was, they found themselves in each other's arms that night. Confronted with kisses and passion and feverish love and devotion. 

They never put a title on it. Theo never brought it up, and he was already so weary of it in the first place, Liam was afraid to bring it up. He knew Theo loved him and only him, but he also knew that Theo hated himself just as much. You don’t really want to let yourself have nice things when you hate yourself so much you don’t even consider yourself to be human. He also knew that Theo still didn’t have a full grasp on the emotions thing. It had been a couple years since Liam had brought him back, yeah, but Theo had taken that long just to come to terms with the fact that he was capable of feeling care and love for someone. He was going to take some time to realize these were all okay and normal feelings, and that it was okay that they were reciprocated. In the meantime, he gave into his selfish nature and he let Liam kiss him, and care for him and love him, and he tried his best to do just the same, even when he didn’t exactly get it right. And for a while, they were happy

And then it all came crashing down a few months ago. Theo had made Liam cry in a fight. It was a really bad fight. Words were said, things were thrown. The fight was both of their faults, Liam pushing too hard and Theo not pulling enough. In the end though it had been an ugly screaming match and it had ended with tears in Liam’s eyes, and Theo just simply never forgave himself. Even though they had made up pretty quickly once all the emotions had settled, Theo kept pulling further and further away until one night he sat Liam down and told him he couldn’t keep doing this to him. He said he would never be in a place where he could make Liam happy, ignoring Liam’s protests that he  _ already  _ made him happy. Theo wouldn’t have it, it was like all the progress they had made the last two years had erased itself completely and Theo was once again not the least bit convinced he was capable of anything but hate. He told Liam that he didn’t want to keep hurting him. He didn’t abandon him completely though, he couldn’t, and he would text him every once in a while to make sure he was doing okay.

Until tonight, at least. Theo had been asleep since he had an early shift at his job tomorrow, when a terrifying dream, the kind of terrifying he hadn’t had since he was first brought back from hell, had made him wake up from his sleep with a scream of terror. That’s when the last piece of his resistance broke and he just couldn't keep away from Liam another second. He told himself he’d call him just to hear his voice, but he had ended up inviting the young werewolf over.

-

Liam’s heart was pounding in his chest as he knocked on Theo’s door. It was late and the knock sounded incredibly loud in the quiet of the night. It felt like entire moon cycles had passed by the time the door finally crept open and Theo was standing on the other side. And fuck, if hearing Theo’s voice had made Liam elated, seeing him in person was so much more. He could hear the older boy’s heart beating just as hard as his. They stood there for a moment, silent.

“Hi.” Liam eventually spoke, softly as if he were scared he would spook Theo. 

“Hi.” Theo spoke back, and a smile crept onto his face as he did so. 

They were in each other’s arms before they knew it. Liam shut the door behind him as he pulled Theo in for a hug. He took him in,  _ all of him.  _ He breathed in his scent, squeezed him tight under his arms, tried to savor the feeling of being there with him as much as he could. And Theo did the exact same. 

“I missed you.” Liam spoke up again. He peppered a kiss onto Theo’s shoulder as he said it. He couldn’t help it. Theo just held him closer.

“I missed you too.” 

“I know.”

-

They were in Theo’s bed. His apartment was a small studio one so it was just one room where he had his bed and all his stuff and then a small kitchenette and bathroom off at the side. They had stayed holding each other by the front door for what seemed like hours before they found themselves under Theo’s bedsheets. They only laid there, turning to face each other, waiting for someone to speak.

Liam reached out his hand and touched it to Theo’s cheek, resting it there. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Theo only raised his eyebrows in question at Liam’s words. “The nightmare, I mean. You haven't had a bad one in a while.”

The truth is Theo’s nightmares had gone back to being agonizing and unbearable shortly after the scent of Liam wore off of his sheets. After a few weeks it had been long enough since Liam had slept there that any lingering scent wore off when Theo threw them in the washer. It’s like his subconscious knew that Liam wasn’t there to hold him anymore. 

“I… I don’t remember what it was about.” He remembered how much it had hurt, though. “Just that it left me feeling like I was drowning or falling or… something. I had to scream myself awake.” 

At the height of it, Theo’s nightmares were so awful that the older chimera would sometimes go entire days without sleeping, too terrified of what awaited him when he closed his eyes. He even took Ambien for a while there, mostly because it sometimes gave him a dreamless sleep. But even that stopped working after a while. Eventually it was just an evil that he learned to quell, or live through, with enough practice. He still had nightmares, just not as horrifying as they had been at first. 

When Liam and he had first gotten together, Liam had learned quickly that most nights Theo was full of so much anxiety over the nightmares that he found it difficult to even get to sleep. That’s when Liam had to take creative measures to get Theo to fall asleep. That’s what he was doing right now.

“Do you think you can get back to sleep?” He asked, but there was a second question hidden inside the words. 

Theo was quiet for a minute, thinking. “No, probably not.” 

Kissing Theo again was like coming home, as cheesy as it sounds. Liam felt electric and ignited as he pressed his lips to the older boy, taking in everything he loved about kissing him in the first place. Liam took in Theo’s scent, He smelled like the woods back home and a touch of citrus. He took in what it felt like to have the weight of Theo’s body pushed up against him, took in the butterflies in his stomach as Theo wrapped his strong arms around his waist. Back before they had feelings for eachother Liam always hated the fact Theo was lowkey more jacked than he was. Now, however, it made Liam melt to feel all that muscle touching up and down his body, holding him in place as Theo kissed his mouth, against his jawline and down his throat. 

“Fuck, Liam” Theo groaned, coming up for air. He brought his hands up and held the younger wolf’s face in them, his thumb stroking his cheek as he did so. “Liam are you sure, is this okay?”

Liam was nodding his head before Theo even finished asking the question. “Yeah baby, yeah” He spoke eagerly, leaning in for another short and sweet kiss. “Of course it’s okay, always.” 

“But-” Theo needed to be clear. “This… I’m still…” He needed to be clear but he couldn’t find the words. 

Liam just scrunched his eyebrows together in question, brought a hand up to his cheek in encouragement. “Yeah?” 

“I still don’t think I deserve you. Don’t think I’m any good for you.” Liam had to refrain from rolling his eyes. This stubborn idiot.  _ His _ stubborn idiot. 

“Baby, you’re good for me, so good for me.” Theo planted his head on Liam’s shoulder and buried his face in his neck, still shaking his head in doubt. “Why don’t you think you’re good for me?”

Theo was silent for a moment, before he let out in the smallest whisper, “Because I’m a monster?”

Now it was Liam’s turn to shake his head in denial. “A monster?” Liam’s heart laid heavy in his chest.

“Theo, look at me.” Green met blue as Theo looked up into Liam’s eyes, obedient. “I’m going to lay down under you.” He spoke, moving to get under Theo just like he said he would. “And you’re gonna do what you always do. Show me how much you love me.”

Theo looked down at him unmoving, eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. Liam let out an exasperated sigh. He reached out for Theo’s hand, laying limp at his side. He brought it up to cup his own cheek. “You’re gonna hold my face like this, remember?” Theo still had no idea what Liam was on about. Liam took Theo’s other hand and brought it to the hem of his shirt, Theo’s fingers instinctively grabbing at it. “Then you’re gonna touch me, right? Touch me everywhere, all over my body while you kiss me. Gonna make me all warm and melted.”

Theo got the idea then, bringing his lips to Liam’s, who was eagerly awaiting him. Theo brought his hands all the way under Liam’s shirt, touching every ridge of his abs, taking his thumb and swiping at the dip in his v-line, then moving up to brush at one of Liam’s nipples. Liam let out a small yelp at that, spurring Theo on even more. He pushed his shirt all the way up, bringing his lips down to Liam’s chest, leaving quick kisses down the middle until he got to just under Liam’s belly button. He opened his mouth and left big, wet kisses there, using his teeth to bite down just a bit. Liam moaned at this before sitting them both up and quickly starting to undress himself as Theo followed pursuit, their clothes soon a pile at the end of his bed. 

Theo laid Liam back down on his back. “That’s right baby, you treat me so well.” Liam spoke up again, keeping up the encouragement from earlier. “You let me know how much you love me all the time, remember.” Theo just nodded in agreement, hand reaching out to stroke Liam’s side. “You always tell me sweet things, whisper them in my ear as you unravel me with your body. Go on, whisper sweet things to me.” 

“You’re so beautiful, Liam.  _ Fuck.  _ You drive me crazy and keep me sane all at the same time.” Theo whispers as he bends over Liam, reaching his hand down. Down, down, down, until he has his hands where Liam wants him the most. Liam let’s out another moan at this, high pitched and whimpery.

“Yeah, just like that Theo. Holy fuck.” 

“You’re so sexy too, I love your moans. You sound so pretty. Everything about you is so pretty.” He strokes slowly as he uses his mouth to burn love bites onto Liam’s body. On his throat, his chest, his abdomen.

It goes on like that, Theo keen to Liam’s instruction and encouragement until they’re both reaching for the lube and condoms Theo keeps at his bedside drawer. 

When Theo enters him, Liam nearly forgets where he is. He feels lost in time and space, drowning in sensation. Theo feels the same. He keeps his strokes inside him at a medium pace, not too fast and not too slow. He revels in the sounds he brings out of Liam, lets his body be set on fire every time Liam tells him how good he’s doing, following his directions so well. 

i love

They both explode in a culmination of fiery heat. Liam lets out a string of moans and curse words as Theo crashes on top of him, lips still pressed to his skin as he leaves soft kisses of comfort and thanks. They’re both satiated in the soft post-ograsm buzz, skin still tingling. 

-

It’s a while later, when Theo’s cleaned both of them up with a towel and they’re laying in each other’s arms, that the love-drunk haze starts to fade a little.

“Li,” Theo speaks up, voice choked a little. Liam hums in response, his head on Theo’s bare chest and his arm extended so he can absentmindedly play with Theo’s hand. 

That’s when Theo sees it. Nothing but calm and satiation, Liam is blissed out and safe and comfortable and all while being in Theo’s arms. There’s a dopey smile on his face and the warmth and contentment comes off of him in waves, Theo can smell it. 

That’s when Theo understands it, all of it. Liam loves him. Liam  _ loves  _ him and it’s okay that Liam loves him. Liam wants to love him, needs to love him. Liam loving him is one half of the equation for a calm and happy and  _ safe  _ Liam. Theo loving Liam right back is the second half of that equation. Because no matter what uncertainty has plagued his mind in the past, there is one thing he knows for sure. Settled deeply into his bones, having penetrated past any barriers his consciousness could have put up, is the absolute certainty that Theo Raeken loves Liam Dunbar and that he will always love Liam Dunbar. And as long as the thread is looped through the needle, as long as it’s dangling there, showing off his humanity and his own capable emotions, Theo knows it will always be okay that he is around Liam. 

“Liam I love you.” He says it before he can even register he’s said it. He says it like if he didn't say it that instant, his skin was going to light on fire and incinerate everything around him.

Liam stops playing with his hand, looks up at him with a cute little scrunch settled in between his eyebrows. Confused at the sudden declaration of love, maybe. “I love you too, dumbass.” He says it with a giggle, like it’s an obvious fact that comes as easily to his as stating his eyes are green. 

“Liam I love you and I will love you for a very long time.” The young werewolf seems to get a hint at the severity of Theo’s words, probably sensing the catch at his throat, the way he’s trying to push the words out. He sits up at that, turning to face Theo better, putting a hand on his cheek. 

The older chimera leans into his touch, takes a moment, as if he’s trying to find the words. “I will love you for so long, Liam. As long as I can,  _ forever.  _ I’ll be six feet under dirt one day and I need you to know that I’ll still be down there loving you.”

“Uh, morbid.” Liam tries to joke, not sure how to feel at the influx of love the older boy is giving him so suddenly. 

“Liam, baby. You don’t get it, do you?” Liam shrugs a shoulder, confusion still evident on his face but it is obvious he is still clinging on to every word, as married to the moment as Theo is. 

“Liam, I didn’t  _ know  _ how to love. Don’t you get that? That was taken from me, or I gave it away, however you see it-”

“It was taken from you.” Liam says matter of factly, always serving as the constant reminder that everything Theo did was not as black and white as the chimera made it seem. 

“Yes, well… for the longest time I didn’t know how to not choose  _ me.  _ I was always the only one I was looking out for. Liam… you taught me that there was more to me than that.” At this point, both boys are looking right at each other, sitting up on their knees in the middle of the bed as they each hold the other’s face in their hands. Theo leans in to land a soft, gentle kiss to Liam’s collarbone, almost as if he has to do  _ something  _ to express how he is feeling right now. 

“You were so patient,” He keeps going, voice trembling from all the intensity he is feeling all of a sudden. “Even when you didn’t care about me the way you do now… you were the first one to trust me, to seek out my help, to show me that you thought there was more to me than everything I had done… all of that really got me believing that some day I could change…”

“Baby,” Liam speaks up, leaning in to plant a soft kiss on Theo’s lips. “It was easy to trust you after you showed me time and time again you were so capable of it.”

“Yes but no matter how much you trusted me, no matter how much I found myself falling for you, I never let myself get past my actions…”

“Is that why you broke things off?” Liam didn’t need to ask, he already knew the answer. 

The leans into the hand on his cheek again, his own hand reaching out to grab Liam’s wrist and squeeze it tight. “Liam you were better than I was ready for.” The words are heavy, sitting in the atmosphere like they might crush the both of them. They’re silent for a long while. Theo because he’s unsure what to say next after laying everything out on the table so unexpectedly. Liam because he’s unsure what all of it means. The words Theo has said have been music to his ears, a melody to treat his biggest wounds and bandage all his heartache. He’s afraid that Theo will take it all back somehow, like all of it was just a sweet symphony to bring a calm before the storm. Yet somewhere, deep inside of him, Liam is suddenly hit with the realization that Theo would never create a storm for him, not on purpose anyway. 

Even after he broke things off last time Theo never let Liam be away from him. He always watched out for him, kept an eye on things and checked in on him. If Liam texted wanting to hear from him, he answered and let him know he still cared. Theo will always look out for him, and hold him and be there for him. He knows that. He knows that so deeply, it hums in his bones. 

“Are you ready now?” He says it in almost a whisper, trusting the next words, whatever they may be.

The clasps their hands together. Bringing them both to his heart, the heart they both know the story behind. 

“I will love you forever, Liam Dunbar.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Omg yay you made it to the end PLEASE leave a comment if you liked it I'm a slut for the validation. Also open to some constructive criticism if u have it. I've been on a Thiam kick lately and I have a couple of stories in mind but they're kind of all blah at the moment. Hopefully posting this will inspire me some more.


End file.
